A consensus seems to be building on what the G20 will achieve. The consensus seems to be that it will achieve nothing. But it goes further. A growing chorus of voices is saying that if it does achieve nothing, it will be a good thing too. Politicians only ever make things worse.

Well, no one can argue Rick Wagoner hasn’t gone down in style. He had ruled the roost at GM for years. He was appointed chief finance officer in 1991. In 2000 he became chief executive, in 2003 he combined the role of chief exec with chairman. And in that time...Read More

Apparently, it was all a misunderstanding. You may recall, last week Mirek Topolánek, the man who finds himself in the rather odd position of no longer being Prime Minister in his own country, the Czech Republic, and yet is EU President, said that Barack Obama’s wishes for a global fiscal...Read More

It is difficult to work out whether this is good or bad news. The UK’s savings ratio rose from just 1.7 to 4.8 per cent in the final quarter of last year, according to the latest official data out last Friday.

Is there a possibility all the disagreements and blaming going on recently between world leaders were little more than jostling? So Germany blames Anglo-Saxons, China blames the West, the US blames China, Brown and Obama want to see the world’s main economies spend, other leaders say no.

The High Street is set to enter a crucial phase. Wednesday just gone was that day when the quarterly rent on High Streets across the land was due. You don’t need to be especially smart to know that some retailers will struggle to pay. Expect trouble ahead as we discover...Read More

Well, no one can argue Rick Wagoner hasn’t gone down in style. He had ruled the roost at GM for years. He was appointed chief finance officer in 1991. In 2000 he became chief executive, in 2003 he combined the role of chief exec with chairman. And in that time...Read More

A consensus seems to be building on what the G20 will achieve. The consensus seems to be that it will achieve nothing. But it goes further. A growing chorus of voices is saying that if it does achieve nothing, it will be a good thing too. Politicians only ever make things worse.

It is often said that the two characters which make up the Chinese word for crisis, mean, if read individually, danger and opportunity. And that is quite apt, because, as has been argued here often enough, there are plenty of opportunities out there during these crisis times we find ourselves...Read More

If only British banks had done things the Spanish way. In Spain, as you know, banks which provided loans worth a high percentage of the property they were secured against, or banks which relied on wholesale markets, had to ensure capital ratios were much higher.

It is often said that the two characters which make up the Chinese word for crisis, mean, if read individually, danger and opportunity. And that is quite apt, because, as has been argued here often enough, there are plenty of opportunities out there during these crisis times we find ourselves...Read More

And so the blame game has reached a new level. Apparently, it wasn’t just bankers who were to blame for the crisis of our times, it was blue-eyed, white bankers. At least that’s what President Lula da Silva of Brazil said yesterday, during a meeting with our own beloved Prime...Read More

“Fred Goodwin’s house in Edinburgh was attacked this morning. We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning.”